Devil's Son-Crash and Burn
by Devil's Son
Summary: angst, jokes and I know you people must be tired of all the angst but it's the only thing I write well


Disclaimer:I don't own the X-Men but even if you sue I can only pay you in canadian money which is worth next to nothing so back off punk  
  
Devil's Son-Crash and Burn  
  
The day had started like all the others had a Xavier's, Wake up and shower. Get dressed in a pair of track pants and go for a run, barrelling through the underbrush surrounding the mansion. A release was all the run ever was, start thinking like an animal. Animals didn't have complicated lives, they just survived for as long as possible. Then shoot some hoops on the court, Cain loved the hot summer heat blazing down on the blacktop as he charged the net with ruthless abandon. He spent a good half hour performing a mirade of highlight moves and dunks and was just finishing up when a voice called out to him blowing his concentration. It turned what would have been a dunk to make Vince Carter fall to his knees and cry turned into a sickening collision with the backboard which collapsed on impact.  
  
He was thankful at times like these that he was thankful for a mutant healing factor, Cain pulled himself from under the wreckage to see his life's number one complication and source of joy running over to him to make sure he was alright. Clarice knew full well that he would probably be just fine but she was always one to get over emotional when it came to Cain. "Are you Ok" blurted the small elfin beauty, "yeah, yeah I'm fine" Cain retorted, very embaressed over his accident and thinking about paying for a new net. "Now what did you want, baby?" Cain turned towards his girlfriend while plastering a a toothy grin on his face, "Oh, you weren't at breakfast and I know you always come out here to showoff in the morning and I wanted to see you" Clarice purred as Cain lifted her into his arms. He buried his face in her neck, taking in her scent. Cain loved how she always smelled like strawberries and lavender and something wholely pure and innocent, he also loved how his stubble tickled her. Clarice's giggling was brought to a halt as she remembered her real reason for coming out here, "we have a mission today if you don't recall, so no more goofing off and get inside" she scolded playfully. "Yes, I remember, but first I am going to eat" Cain proclaimed as he swept her into his arms and walked across the exspanse of the mansion's backyard.  
  
Inside they joked and teased while he cooked his breakfast, they were all alone as everybody had already eaten and were now occupied with other things. Usually had she been any other girl he would have taken her on the floor right there, but Cain thought of Clarice as something special and if she wasn't ready to have sex then he could wait. It would be hard, but just being with her, laughing and holding hands had made him feel better then any sex had before.  
  
Clarice rambled excitedly about mission details as Cain sat shovelling food into his mouth, Cain had almost forgot that this was Clarice's first real mission. He knew she could handle herself, she had survived Apocalypse's twisted rule in her dimension so she could survive some punk terrorist mutants with no training. That's what he had thought at the time.  
  
Now, he thought that he should have kept an eye on her. Clarice was strapped to a gurney being operated on by Beast, she had gotten cocky and broken away from her assigned partner Bobby and had tryed to take out the last few terrorists on her own. Bobby was now sitting in a corner taking one of the most foul mouthed verbal assualts he had ever recieved while on the X-Men from Cain, while Scott was yelling at Cain about "X-Men don't kill" like Cain was actually listening. Then Cain just dropped to his knees in the middle of Scott's lecture and froze, the full realization hit him. Clarice might die, he couldn't move. Just stay still and nothing else can go wrong he told himself. Cain felt like if he moved an inch he would shatter into a million peices. He was trying to pin point the stop where everything went so wrong.  
  
Cain had been paired with Betsy, Logan with Remy and Clarice with Bobby. He should have tryed harder to have been paired with Clarice, he did ask but Scott had shut him down saying that he was over emotional and Clarice could handle herself just fine. Shows what Scott knows Cain mentally fumed. Cain and Betsy had moved into position, Logan and Remy were on the exact opposite side of the warehouse with Bobby and Clarice covering the back door. The battle had been fast and furious, the few who remained afterwards had made a run for it. Bobby had taken out the few who ran out the back when Clarice had spotted some of them fleeing out the front, it wasn't his fault he couldn't stop her from teleporting after them.  
  
Cain had caught up to her just in time to see one of those fucking bastards crack her skull with a giant stone hand, he lost it Cain would admit. Cain let loose a blast of energy that knifed through the assailant and left him with no legs, screaming and bleeding trying to run on his smoking stumps that once were his legs. As Cain approached the cowering man who was no longer in control of his powers, he was sqriuming on the ground halfway between the stone skinned creature and pimple faced teenager that he was the stench of burning flesh and fear filled his nostrils. It was was rather a gory sight as his own rock hard armor shredded his soft flesh, the kid was probably in shock from all the blood loss and the excruiating pain of his own body turning on itself. His screms filled the air as the boy seemingly drowned in his own life's blood. Cain cared not for him, the boy quickly found silence as Cain's massive fist actually ripped through the back of the boy's head with a sickening crack and a spray of red mist and white bone. Large pieces greyish brain matter and tendrils of blood worked a gruesome trail up Cain's arm as he lifted Clarice off the ground and brought her back to the Blackbird.  
  
Cain couldn't think about what if's now, as a matter of fact couldn't form one clear thought besides getting out of the mansion. The walls were closing in on him and his breath was becoming forced, voices were echoing within his head taunting him. Cain rose and broke into a sprint trying to silence the whispering in his mind, he didn't remember getting on his Harley. It was kind of funny actually, Logan had help him build the shining chrome and steel chopper after one time he had run from his problems before. Logan had said it would remind him of what he had here and why you can't just run off, this coming from the original mutant-cowboy-samurai biker who had running down to an art.  
  
But Cain didn't run very far. He had ended up at some biker bar Logan had shown him sometime after the bike had been built, the Auger Inn. He had tryed to wallow in his own pity in peace but that got interuppted by a few dumb bikers who didn't like the way he looked, obviously numbers didn't equal brains. "Hey boy" the largest one drawled in a perfect redneck accent as he brandished a broken beer bottle in Cain's face. "Fuck off Cletus" Cain growled from underneath his leather porkpie hat, "What did you say boy?" the gigantic leather covered monstrosity spat. "Oh, you didn't hear me, alright I said motherfuck walk away before I take that bottle and show you what your intestines look like" Cain returned as he pushed his hat back on his head. The biker never saw it coming, in fact he never had time to wipe the stupid grin off his face.  
  
Logan was stepping off his bike as a large leather clad lump flew through the front window and skidded to a stop at his feet. He nudged the fallen man who rolled over to reveal a broken bottle lodged in his gut, two others came barrelling out the front screaming like little girls. "Don't go in there man" choked out one. "That fuckin' guy is nuts" screamed the other as he picked up their fallen comrade.   
  
Logan shook his head and casually strolled into the bar to find the Cain barking like a crazed pitbull at the fleeing bikers with a twisted grin on his face, "Hey old man, was wonderin' when you'd show" Cain remarked turning back to his table in the back. "Ya got blood on your hands" Logan remarked as he pulled up a chair. "Tell me something I don't know" Cain mumbled knowing Logan would catch it. "Well Clarice is going to be alright, but you know that already don't you" it wasn't a question, Cain realized that Clarice would probably fine with all the alien technology that the X-Men possessed. "So why ya out here acting like somebody died?" Logan questioned. "Cause someone did" Cain's voice was so low that even with Logan's enhanced hearing he almost didn't catch it. "What that punk kid?, So you lost it" there was a pause as Logan pulled out a cigar and lit it "Come on kid everyone knows that you got problems and they accept what you did, I would have killed the little shit to if Clarice was my girl and Scott would go nuts if that was Jean." Cain looked into Logan's eyes and spoke "dat's the problem, I ain't got no problems according to da Prof, he says even after all those skull sessions that I'm sane as can be." Logan looked stunned for a moment "What?", "Yeah, Prof says I actually might be the sanest person in the mansion, he thinks that it just might be a different perception of things, more suited to this decaying world" Cain said with his head lowered, "He wants to write a fuckin' paper about it, so I ain't got no excuse for the way I act."  
  
Logan sat stunned, "I can't believe that" Logan finally said. "Well believe it, I've spent my whole life using insanity as an excuse but now I find out I'm just a ahead of my time" Cain returned with an empty laugh. "So, you all twisted in a knot over this, you got a chance to make up for all that shit now and once again I find your sorry ass bitchin' and moanin'" Logan retorted with more anger then he had expected. He didn't want to get mad at him but he was tired of all the god damn angsting this kid pulled. "Yeah, I know that but I don't know if I can do it" Cain whispered defeatedly."Now you talkin' like a fuckin' pussy boy" Logan roared, "I ain't no motherfuckin' pussy old man and if you say that again I'll fuckin' kill you" Cain growled as he rose to his feet, realizing this was what Logan wanted, for him to do something other than sit in despair he quickly sat back down.  
  
"Look, I know you think I can do this but I can't, I sold my soul a long time ago and I just came here to crash and burn in peace so leave me to it" Cain told Logan. "Yes you can kid, I got faith in you and believe it or not your a good person" Logan said while putting a hand on Cain's slumped shoulders. Cain eyes widened in shock, Logan noticed this and was confused. "You know your the first person to ever say that to me, not even Clarice has ever said that" Cain spoke so softly and emotionless it was scary. "You know I used to pride myself on being the foulest, nastiest down dirtiest motherfuck to walk the earth, the worst thing to hit the streets since crack and now all I want is to hear Clarice say those words" he continued, "What words?" Logan questioned, "Your a good person, it would actually mean more then I love you cause people fall in love with worthless pieces of shit all the time but I never know if she thinks I'm a decent human being" Cain words echoed off the walls of the empty bar.  
  
"Why don't you just read her mind and find out" Logan voice sounded hoarse and tired. "I have and I never find her thinking about it and because I want to hear her say it" Cain said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, if ya would get off your lazy butt and get back to the mansion ya could just plan ask her" Logan returned with some sarcasm, "I don't know maybe I should just take off, you guys would probably be better off without me and Clarice would get over me leaving after a while" He was sinking into self pity again. "Fuck that kid" Logan growled as he grabbed Cain by the collar of his jacket and jerked him to his feet. The sight of the small stocky man yelling at the tall, muscular man might have seemed comical if you didn't know who they were and what the small man was capable of. "Look get your ass back there cause there is one little girl who has probably just woken up and is wondering where the fuck her big badass boyfriend is and if ya don't I'm going back there and telling her ya ran out on her like a bitch and she will cry and I hate crying women and then I'll have to come hunt ya down kick your ass and leave ya fer her to finish ya off" Logan's little rant left Cain speechless. A small twitch at the corner of Cain's mouth grew into a huge goofy grin as he realized that this little gruff man in front of him was the first friend he had made in a long time. "Thanks old man I owe ya one for talkin' some sense into me" Cain said throwing an arm around the extremely suprised canadians shoulder. "Well you can start by payin' fer the window so I can show my face in here again" Logan said smiling at Cain's change of attitude. "Yeah sure" Cain returned as he tossed a roll of bills towards the bartender, the goofy grin plastered across his face, it was like a white slash against a dark background.  
  
"Ya know kid, your almost as trouble as my Jubilee" Logan said whistfully, "Who the fuck is this Jubilee kid you keep talkin' about?" inquired Cain as they strolled out the door. "I'll have to introduce you two sometime" Logan told him.  
  
Later at the mansion....  
  
Cain gazed at the fragile figure that lay sleeping before him, he thought she looked beautiful even with the bandages and bruises. He was about to turn around to leave and let her sleep and come back in the morning when her eyes fluttered open. "Hey babe, go back to sleep I'll come back later" Cain said pushing her back into the bed as she tried to get up. "No, stay I'm not tired" Clarice protested weakly, "Alright but just stay in that bed" Cain resolve quickly depleted, "I fucked up today Clarice and did something I shouldn't have" Cain muttered trying to hide his shame. "What did you do?" the small battered girl asked almost afraid to hear the answer. "Um....Ikilledthatbastardwhoputyouhere" Cain blurted out and quickly averted his eyes from hers.  
  
There was silence for a few moments then the unexpected, suddenly Cain found himself with Clarice's tounge shoved down his throat. After Clarice had released Cain, "I can't say I am entirely happy with what happened but I understand, you seem to forget sometimes that I came from a world where killing was a natural thing" Clarice somehow managed to both scold and forgive him at the same time. "I can forgive you cause you did it because of me but now that your here you can't go around killing random people okay" she said shaking her finger at him like a mother chastising her child. "Okay babe, as long as your a'ight with it" Cain grinned and kissed her lightly until she grabbed his hair and deepened their embrace. "Now I'm tired" Clarice said dreamily after they had parted, "a'ight then I'll get out of here" Cain said as he got up to leave. "Like hell you will, your going to be my pillow for tonight so get your cute butt over here" she ordered, "So I have a cute butt do I, thanks always thought so myself" Cain said wiggiling his butt as he created a bass beat with his mouth and proceeded to do a little dance number that had Clarice rolling around in her bed laughing,"do a little dance, make a little love, uh, get down tonight, uh" he sang as he wiggiled his butt all over the med lab. Finally he stopped and made his way back to her, she lifted the covers and he managed to fit his large frame underneath her.  
  
They layed there for a few moments with Clarice sprawled across his barrel like chest until Cain broke the silence. "Clarice, um...do you think I'm a good person?" Cain quietly spoke into her ear, "W-What?" replied his tired and half asleep companion. "I said do you think I'm a good person?, and I don't care what your answer is just tell the truth" Cain repeated although he knew the last part was a lie. Clarice managed even with all the wires and such to straddle him, she leaned in close to his face. Her scent was overwhelming him, it was taking all his self control for him not to show his arousal. "Of course I think your a good person, maybe not the best, you brood and angst alot and you have some serious problems but you wouldn't be with the X-Men if you weren't at least trying to be a good person which is enough for me" she spoke slowly and softly, her words drifting around him like smoke. "Thank you, you don't know how much that means to me" Cain returned and then repositioned her small body back where it was. They sat like that for for a few minutes with Cain stroking Clarice's hair and every once in a while placing a tender kiss on the top of her head until Cain felt her breathing even out and grow deeper and he knew she was asleep.  
  
"Alright I know your there Remy and I know you got my little chippendales routine on camera, and if that tape ever sees the light of day I will beat you senseless and wait for you to heal and tell Rogue you steal her underwear while she sleeps" Cain spoke to the darkness he knew the thief occupied. "Zut" the thick cajun accent proclaimed. "Great, Gumbo ya got us busted" said a gruff voice from the shadows "Hey, you steal Rogue's panties wait till everyone hears that" footsteps could be heard racing away from the lab followed by "Logan, please non it is Remy's great shame, Remy give ya anything not to tell mon ami."  
  
So his friends were really strange but at least he had his girl he thought I really don't care if she purple or not she's beautiful to me. Cain was lulled to sleep by the sounds of Gambit pleading with Wolverine not to reveal " Gambit's great shame" and Wolverine hearty laughter.  
  
  
  



End file.
